Teen Charged With Shooting Park Forest Boy

Park Forest police Tuesday charged a juvenile in connection with a Monday shooting and were expected to charge another on Wednesday.

A 15-year-old Chicago Heights boy was charged in a juvenile delinquency petition with aggravated battery and armed violence in the shooting of a 16-year-old Park Forest boy, said Sgt. Mike McNamara.

The victim was treated for a gunshot wound to his left arm and was released on Monday from Olympia Fields Osteopathic Medical Center, authorities said.

At a hearing Tuesday, Judge Michael Stuttley ordered the Chicago Heights boy held at a juvenile detention center in Chicago. His next court date is March 7.

On Tuesday, police arrested a 16-year-old Park Forest boy in connection with the shooting, McNamara said. The second boy likely will be charged in a juvenile delinquency petition with unlawful use of a weapon, McNamara said.

Authorities said the shooting stemmed from a fistfight Friday involving the two suspects and six to 12 other youths. On Monday afternoon, the two suspects were walking near Hemlock Street and Leims Road when some of the boys involved in the fight began yelling at the suspects, McNamara said. The Chicago Heights boy said he fired at the boys to scare them, McNamara said.